When You Dance
by IndigoHyacinth
Summary: Post Sin. Rikku and Isaaru discuss monkeys and Sendings, and of summoners and their guardians on the Luca Pier. IsaaruxRikku


A/N:

I have been in love with this pairing ever since I first saw its mention on the LJ of Peripheral Sight. That said, three drafts of writing later, this it what came of it.

###

Rikku was taking a walk by herself along the Luca Pier. 

It was still early morning and, although usually that would mean nothing in the bustling city, today the streets were mostly empty underneath the pale wash of the yellow and blue sky. She suspected that many would sleep-in that day, especially after the previous night's celebrations. Remnants of the festivities could be seen left on the streets---bright paper streamers and confetti, half-eaten sweets and discarded food wrappers, torn lanterns with the signs for fortune, fertility, and hope painted on their sides. She nudged along the blackened remains of a firecracker on the pavement with her the toe of her foot. No doubt there was going to be a permanent holiday in the years to come. 

She stopped, balancing lightly on the balls of her feet. The Al-Bhed stretched lithe arms straight up into the air, palms open and fingers intertwined. Then she let out a little sigh, letting her arms fall to her sides. Her hands slapped softly on her thighs, and she crouched down at the edge of the walkway, arms wrapped around her knees. She stared out into the clear blue of the horizon.

She was thinking. Although that may not have seemed a terribly characteristic thing for her to do, she found that some time was needed for a few new ideas to completely settle in her mind. 

Like ideas about Sin. And Yuna, now High Summoner. Ideas about an Eternal Calm that seemed to be approaching. Ideas about all the spirits that had been put to rest in a final Sending. And, for a moment, she liked to dwell on the idea that perhaps---at last---her people would have a place in Spira outside the barren, desert fringes-----a place in a world that would finally _grow_.

Spira was growing. Life would be changing all around her, and she hoped she would be able to deal with this sudden burst of life.

She closed glittering, green eyes. 

Soft footsteps slapped against the stone path behind her, accompanied by the silken rustle of cloth. Rikku had become used to the fact that death could come at the snap of her fingers, so even in that time of peace she was instantly on her feet. She automatically dropped into a fighting stance, whirling around to face the newcomer. It was only when she saw who it was that she allowed herself to relax wiry muscles.

"Ah, Isaaru," Rikku greeted. She grinned crookedly. 

The former summoner quirked a gentle smile in return. Isaaru was dressed casually in a light jacket, shirt, and slacks. The absence of his heavy summoner's robes made him seem even taller and lankier then he really was, which somehow surprised Rikku a little. He bowed slightly.

"My Lady Rikku," he murmured.

Rikku rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Aiii..." Her irritation was only half-feigned. "Please, don't you get started on that too."

She looked down to examine a bitten and dirty excuse for a fingernail.

"Just the other day I was simplyanother scum-under-the-Spiran's-boot Al-Bhed----I don't need all this 'Lady' muck, especially not from you."

Isaaru shrugged.

"You were Guardian to High Summoner Yuna---the one to bring Spira the Eternal Calm." His lip twitched. "I suggest you start getting used to being called 'Lady.'"

Rikku stared at the unexpected gleam of mischief in Isaaru's dark eyes. Then she pouted childishly.

"H-h-eyy---! Now don't start making fun of me!" She fumbled for a moment, trying to come up with a proper threat. Putting her hands on her hips, she drew herself up imperiously.

"I'll sic the monkeys on you!"

Isaaru raised a slender brow.

"Monkeys?" he asked.

Rikku stopped, suddenly realizing what she had just said. She laughed embarrassedly, putting a hand on her head. "Oh...heh heh...yeah." 

She hesitated, wondering whether or not she should go on, but she relented underneath his inquiring gaze.

"You see," she explained, "I had this dream once." 

"Really? Care to tell me how monkeys would figure into this?"

There was a pause as Rikku tried to gauge the expression on Isaaru's face. "Well, there's not that much to tell." She hooked both of her hands behind her head in a casual fashion. 

"We were in a hall in Zanarkand---the one where the final Aeon was supposed to be in. It was really dark and in ruins, like how it looked after we had beat Yunalesca, all shadowy and mysterious." 

She put a finger to pursed lips thoughtfully. "I was looking for a bag of gil I think I had dropped, and you were there helping me. Yuna and all the other guardians were waiting at the door, and Wakka was yelling that we'd better hurry or they'd go and _leave _us... soooo... there we were, stumbling around in the rubble looking for my gil---me swearing that it had to be around there somewhere, it couldn't have just gotten up and walked away... and then---"

She paused dramatically. When a few moments had passed and she still hadn't spoken, Isaaru prodded her further. "And then?"

Rikku grinned broadly, flinging her arms out and gesturing widely.

"And then there were these monkeys! They were everywhere---all over the floor and poking into anything they could get their furry little paws on. I was holding a monkey, and a monkey was on my shoulder, and there was a monkey on your head---I yelled that these blasted monkeys must have _stolen _my gil, and that's why I couldn't find it---"

She stopped quite abruptly when she noticed Isaaru laughing. She wavered uncertainly for a moment, realizing how silly she must have looked ranting about thieving monkeys--of all things---but then she was laughing too.

"I know," she said, once she had successfully gained control of herself again. "It's...silly."

She walked across the path and pulled herself up onto a wall so that she was sitting on the rough stone, her feet swinging a few inches off the ground.

"But you _did _ask."

She patted the spot next to her in invitation. Isaaru smiled and came to join her.

"So I did," he acknowledged.

Isaaru's movements were fluid and graceful, even when he wasdoing things as simple as climbing a wall and sitting. Rikku was used to seeing the same in Yuna, but she still found herself watching Isaaru curiously. She could easily imagine him performing the steps of a Sending, stepping out onto the water before them as easily and lightly as if it were dry land. She wondered what his was like. Every summoner discovered their own dance as they trained themselves for the pilgrimage, each dance individual to the person. She fancied Isaaru's dance to be as elegant and frighteningly beautiful as Yuna's---like glass and water and wind---like radiant moonlight---but with a definite, earthy substance to each step.

He noticed her staring at him when a few moments had passed. Their eyes met, and she smiled brightly, trying not to look as self-conscious as she felt.

"I was just thinking," she said, "that your Sending must be very beautiful."

Too late she realized that, again, her mouth was moving faster than her thoughts. Dismay hovered at the edges of her mind as she awaited his response.

"About as pretty as any funeral," he said frankly, his face bland. And then, ruefully, catching a glance of Rikku's expression, he added, "No. I'm sorry....." 

He leaned back a little, pausing as he considered the idea.

"I...suppose so," he began, a little unsteadily, "...although, truth be told, no one has ever commented."

Gulls wheeled high above them, keening shrilly. Rikku pretended to study them.

"Yuna's was beautiful too. But scary. She was, after all, leading the deceased onto their next lives. And...she led us guardians too. And Spira. She has guided Spira into a new life. People want her to keep doing that, even when her first duty to defeat Sin has already been completed."

She hesitated and tilted her head so that she was looking into the horizon again.

"And not just her," she said, beginning to sound a little angry. "The priests in Bevelle dragged _you _into their mess too, didn't they? They want you to lead them out of the chaos that Seymour abandoned them to deal with. Typical, running to the summoner for help. Their own lives aside, the summoners have always been the pillars of Spira, the sacrifices of Spira."

"It is our duty." Isaaru's voice was quiet, calm. Rikku stared at him, feeling shaken and restless at the end of her rantings. Looking at his tranquil face seemed to make everything else drain away, until all that was left was a sort of discontented gloom. 

"I know....I know..." she muttered. "It just has never felt _right, _or fair. It seems like too much." 

She sighed, jumping back down onto the pavement, crossing her arms over her chest. "It seems like too much....even when I understand why you do it."

"But that's why you became a guardian," he said.

She turned, and there was Isaaru standing behind her. 

His presence was soothing, reminding her of the earth---gentle and warm, but firm. Steadfast.

"You understood our duty, and you did what you could. You protected your summoner, protected Spira through her. And, I think you---you and that guardian called Tidus---have taught her that there _is _room for certain things outside of one's duty---High Summoner's guardian."

An unexpected, teasing smirk tweaked at his lips.

"Little monkey guardian," he said softly.

"Hmph. I'll monkey your guardian," Rikku said pertly without thinking.

"What's so funny?" she asked when Isaaru burst out laughing. Then she thought about what she had said.

"Are you hungry?" Isaaru asked a few moments later, still smiling. "I know a cafe not too far from here with a nice selection of tea and pastries."

Rikku considered the invitation. She studied Isaaru's warm, blue eyes carefully, and then nodded.

"All right."

Isaaru offered his arm. Rikku figured he was still teasing her, but she accepted it anyway. 

"My Lady," he murmured.

Rikku snorted. "Yevonite clown."

"Al-Bhed monkey."

"You'll never let me live that down, will you?"

"Of course not."

She tried to elbow him for his insolence, but he moved away before her limb could make contact with his ribs.

"Hey! No moving!"

She wondered what the world was coming to, that an Al-Bhed and the present head of the temple in Bevelle could walk down the street together without anyone thinking anything of it, that an Al-Bhed could call herself a guardian, and that one could honestly say that Sin would never return to Spira

Life was truly changing all around her.

...

....and Brother was going to make himself a pain if he saw them now.


End file.
